Tag Archives: Video Game Industry

The Year is 2552. Murder aliens for the good of the human species in Halo: Spartan Strike, where you don’t play as Master Chief but you will be fellow a Spartan soldier uncovering the details of events in the Halo story-line previously shrouded in some degree of mystery. Thirty missions are faced as back-story is given to the Halo franchise and that same beloved twin-stick shooter gameplay from Halo: Spartan Assault is brought to an even higher quality level. Tom Salta who did the soundtrack for Halo 2: Anniversary is back again to provide a moving score that feels great while gaming, and graphically the title has been taken to a new level as well. While you can get the game from Windows Store on your Windows 8 Phone, Windows 8 PC, or the Apple Appstore on iPhone / iPad, many people enjoy playing through Steam on Windows 7 still and Microsoft chose not to leave us behind thankfully. The game is fully available on its own for just $5.99 or with the original game it sequels for $9.99 as a two-game bundle.

In addition to Achievements there are also Assault Ops to accomplish which are goals that correspond with the statistics of your actions in battle. This can be very fun and rewarding and speed-running or just trying your best in missions does enhance the feel of the game. The classic pistol damage has been cranked up a bit. One shot kills on most enemies can now be possible with the pistol allowing players to get crazy kill-streaks that have that old halo feel to them, but you need to be skilled enough to pull this off. That isn’t as hard as you might expect because of a bit of Aim Assist being added into the picture.

Yes, a tiny amount of aim assist being thrown in to the game and although it requires players to be aiming almost in the exact right spot to begin with it can be annoying at times when a kill is completed then your aim gets thrown off because the aim assist was correcting the angle of fire and you didn’t know it at the time. This cannot be turned off which is a bit of a downer overall, but luckily it’s not too heavy of an Aim Assist to make me want to stop playing. There are a lot of improvements to the game including subtle touches to the user interface which make it more useful and better looking, but also bigger changes such as the way the story flows with missions, the graphical quality and gameplay design being at a higher level, and the surplus of weapon choices adding to tactical decisions mid-battle really make this game worth the extra investment of money and time over just playing the original and stopping there.

One way that replay value is extended is by rating your performance from each match. You can spend money on using different gear to go into battle with versus the original layout designated for that particular mission, but this can add to the challenge rather than help you out at times. There’s also a skull system to add difficulty to the game for higher experience payouts at the end. It would have been nice if some sort of endless survival mode could be designed since I really feel that these spin-offs have a huge potential for that, and then the replay value would be even higher. However, the game as it is has a lot to offer and I think it’s great how many full-size Halo features were crunched into this smaller experience. It’s great being able to pick up and play in short bursts something that feels so fun and true to the Halo franchise.

A couple issues that I did find slightly annoying but not game-breaking were that alt-tabbing forced the game into a Windowed mode with the wrong resolution for me. This might not be a problem for all users and could entirely be a symptom of my exact software configuration, but it still merits mentioning nonetheless. The game also seems to not recognize my Xbox ONE controller unless I plug it in before booting up the game. As long as your Xbox ONE controller is being recognized though, you can switch between the two inputs at the main menu’s settings screen. At the end of the day these issues are not really a big deal though and the game itself is very addictive and fun with an excellent flow.

Users on the iOS or Windows Phone are reporting that some of the mobile-specific issues with the original title have been very much improved such as touchscreen controls being much more responsive. Players are able to use all-new weapons, such as the Incineration Cannon, Scatter Shot, Binary Rifle, and more. There are also brand new armor abilities including an Airstrike, Proximity Mine, Shock Chain, and more.

Final Verdict:

With so many improvements over the original title, Halo: Spartan Strike takes an already fun formula and makes it even better. The game looks better, feels better with enhanced hit detection and more engaging, longer missions, and gives a lot of new content such as weaponry and enemies to be battled. Even after the title has been beaten the addictive nature of it makes you crave more. While waiting for a third entry to this side-series of Halo players can rack up Assault Ops accomplishments, Steam Achievements, and level up their game through achieving better results, playing against tougher scenarios through skull difficulty modifiers, and afford going out into combat with their favorite weapons for each mission which may actually make the game harder in some cases. Halo: Spartan Strike manages to come off feeling like a full production and could have easily been believable as a $15 game but instead comes in at a nice low cost of $5.99 and surely will satisfy players on Desktop PC (especially if they have a controller) despite the design for Mobile which has also been improved. Halo: Spartan Strike earns a 9.3 out of 10 from RealGamerNewz making it an RGN Gold Rated Game of 2015 and is easily one of our favorite twin-stick shooters of all time.

Official Trailer:

Review Copy Info: A digital copy of this game was provided to RealGamerNewz by the publisher for the purpose of this Review.

Editor’s Note: RealGamerNewZ has moved web servers, some older posts can no longer be commented on and have been preserved without their images. Thank you for your understanding in this matter. This article was written by Jon Ireson on 20150419 and was last modified on 20150419 .

Tristan and Jon hop on another RGN Daily News to run down some of the big stories of the day. GTA V has dropped on PC and we have a couple of stories related to that around the website as well (here) and (here), but it may have overshadowed some things so find out what you’ve missed below in the show! Today’s RGN Daily News #78 is for Monday April 13, 2015.

Editor’s Note: RealGamerNewZ has moved web servers, some older posts can no longer be commented on and have been preserved without their images. Thank you for your understanding in this matter. This article was written by Jon Ireson on 20150413 and was last modified on 20150413 .

Rest In Peace OnLive, after being up and running for just 5 years everyone’s fears have now come true. Those who paid into the OnLive service will lose access to the game’s they’ve paid for on April 30, 2015 as Sony’s purchase of their infrastructure finalizes and the cloud game streaming service is shut down for good. We all saw this coming a mile away, for a long time now the company has been struggling and it’s a miracle they even survived long enough to be acquired by Sony. Hopefully this serves as a warning for those attempting to make massive profit margins off of cloud-based gaming, though we sincerely doubt that. As for Sony’s acquirement it is currently unclear exactly what they plan to do with the OnLive technology but we offer a few speculations as well as run down the details of this industry news event in today’s RGN Podcast.

RGN Video Podcast:

Editor’s Note: RealGamerNewZ has moved web servers, some older posts can no longer be commented on and have been preserved without their images. Thank you for your understanding in this matter. This article was written by Jon Ireson on 20150402 and was last modified on 20150402 .

3 New Assassin’s Creed Games, a 44 Minute Bloodborne Playthrough, and much more are discussed in today’s RGN Daily News as we dissect just exactly how far Ubisoft is willing to go to make a buck at the expense of their most beloved franchise. The Xbox and PlayStation platforms get their April lineups announced in regard to free games being made available for paid subscribers of Live GOLD and PS Plus respectively. Check out the latest Batman: Arkham Knight gameplay footage and our thoughts on what’s going on with Konami dumping the Kojima Productions name from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain as well as Silent Hills which seems all but gutted from Hideo Kojima’s influence although they appear to be sticking with the FOX Engine logo on the box art for now.

Mixed feelings come up when we speak about the Super Mario 64 HD Fan Remake being banned. In a perfect world we’d love all HD Fan Remakes to survive, but Nintendo is actively working with the Mario IP still so from a legal stance this just can’t fly. Atari on the other hand are jerks for blocking the spiritual successor to Tempest, which we also discuss and use as an example to draw comparisons from on the Super Mario situation. Alan Wake Lifetime Sales are revealed, a new Batman: Arkham Knight Limited Edition PS4 Bundle is seen for the first time, and Metal Gear Solid: The Movie is still happening.

∞ All this and more delivered by the delightful RealGamerNewz and Shotgun Seat Productions. Tune in below.

Editor’s Note: RealGamerNewZ has moved web servers, some older posts can no longer be commented on and have been preserved without their images. Thank you for your understanding in this matter. This article was written by Jon Ireson on 20150401 and was last modified on 20150401 .

With the latest string of interactive work coming out of the video game industry rivaling television shows and film (more than just financially), Shotgun Seat Productions finally asks Are Video Games Better Than TV?

Video Podcast:

[Photo Credit] Giant Bomb at PAX Prime 2012 Telltale Games Booth

Editor’s Note: RealGamerNewZ has moved web servers, some older posts can no longer be commented on and have been preserved without their images. Thank you for your understanding in this matter. This article was written by Tristan Werbe on 20150329 and was last modified on 20150329 .

In this preliminary episode of HotS NOOB League Adventures (or HotS NOOB for short) I show off just exactly how bad I am at the game before becoming trained by my team of elite Sensei (先生) and push through later episodes while also speaking on a couple of known issues with the Closed Beta of Heroes of the Storm. Namely, the ability for players to Ping each other way too often and inability for anybody to adjust the volume on it. In my personal opinion, the Ping Needs A Mute Button or at least an independent volume slider. A quick look at the Blizzard forums shows I’m not the only one who thinks so, and I go into detail talking about both sides of the argument and where I think Blizzard can find a nice middle ground.

There’s also the issue of getting locked into the wrong region if you’re not careful entering those pesky Beta Keys, so you might want to check out that PSA delivered in this video by yours truly in which I explain how it happened to me and why I now have two accounts and had to start all over again from scratch. Tough adventures for a NOOB even from the starting point, but hey – challenges don’t make or break you if you use them to become stronger. More NOOB League coming soon!!!

Closed Beta Gameplay w/ Commentary:

Editor’s Note: RealGamerNewZ has moved web servers, some older posts can no longer be commented on and have been preserved without their images. Thank you for your understanding in this matter. This article was written by Jon Ireson on 20150329 and was last modified on 20150331 .

Is it the game that will rejuvenate the series, just another party, or somewhere in the middle? Mario Party has always been a decent series, at least when playing with other people, find out how 10 stacks up in this Video Review.

Video Review:

Review Copy Info: A physical copy of this game was purchased by RealGamerNewz by the publisher for the purpose of this Review.

Editor’s Note: RealGamerNewZ has moved web servers, some older posts can no longer be commented on and have been preserved without their images. Thank you for your understanding in this matter. This article was written by Tristan Werbe on 20150326 and was last modified on 20150326 .

The following Review is presented below in Video format as created by Shotgun Seat Productions for RealGamerNewz. As always, feel free to disagree, provide feedback, or generate discussion with the creator in our comments section or on the YouTube channel. Let your voice be heard! We sure are going to continue letting ours be heard. A big thank you is on order for Rockstar Games for providing early press copies of their games to us so we could get this done in a timely manner, it’s much appreciated.

Video Review – Part 1:

Editor’s Note: Rockstar Games has released an update in an attempt to stabilize GTA: Online , a Part 2 to this Review has been published below evaluating the success / failure of the patch:

Video Review Part 2:

Current Score: 8.3 / 10

Developer: Rockstar North
Publisher: Rockstar Games

Available On: PS4 | XO | PS3 | 360

Played On: Sony PlayStation 4

Review Copy Info: A physical copy of this game was provided to RealGamerNewz by the publisher for the purpose of this review.

Editor’s Note: RealGamerNewZ has moved web servers, some older posts can no longer be commented on and have been preserved without their images. Thank you for your understanding in this matter. This article was written by Tristan Werbe on 20150312 and was last modified on 20150326 .

Just a glorified iPad style game? View the Video Review below of this Wii U Exclusive produced by Shotgun Seat Productions for RealGamerNewz.

Video Review:

Editor’s Note: RealGamerNewZ has moved web servers, some older posts can no longer be commented on and have been preserved without their images. Thank you for your understanding in this matter. This article was written by Tristan Werbe on 20150310 and was last modified on 20150312 .

Contributing Editor Tristan joins myself and Public Relations Editor Josh as we recount our own personal favorite and not-so-favorite video games from the past year 2014 as we move forward to a new year of shining new opportunities for gamers, and more importantly no half-measures taken by big studios this year (we hope). Each of us discuss our own personal experiences with the games we picked to be in our Top 5, Honorable Mentions, and Dishonorable Mentions.

Top 5 Best Games of 2014 (AKA The GOTY 2014 Discussion)

Watch Dogs VS Grand Theft Auto V Next-Gen

Destiny VS Gamers???

Titanfall Reflections

Indie Games of the Year

2014 Games You Missed, Or Forgot You Own

2014 Games That Shouldn’t Have Ever Existed

Let-downs of 2014

There’s also been a poll taken by Deputy Editor Jermain in which many RealGamerNewz Readers voted for their favorite games in various categories for various platforms. These RGN GOTY Awards will be announced (update: Monday 1/12/15) with Reader’s Choice picks by you the readers (thank you to everyone who voted). For now, please enjoy this Video Podcast in which three of us RGN members give you our thoughts on the entire year summed up in just 45 minutes.

Production: RealGamerNewz 2015 (C)

Originally Live-streamed January 9, 2015

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Despite claims that the mobile industry was overtaking the home console video game industry, new numbers from the NPD Group, IDG, and Microsoft have given physical proof to the counter-argument that far more money is spent on software for console gaming units than anywhere else in the industry. That factor held true as the following breakdown was served up by the established statistics sources for such historic game industry sales figures. I’ll go over those numbers and also draw some conclusions from the data. As always, feel free to disagree and leave your thoughts in our comments section if you’d like them to be considered by our corporate partners and editorial staff.

Conclusions from this Data

Video Games industry is more dominated by hardcore console game software sales than previously believed.

Overall, the Video Games industry is growing, not shrinking – on all fronts (platforms).

The most popular video games are very, very expensive to produce and will often not yield a substantial profit; if any.

Computer gaming has experienced a huge boom since Steam continues growing momentum, next-gen PS4 & Xbox One took too long to release and used low specs resulting in many people jumping on the PC bandwagon. NVIDIA and AMD have a healthy and raging competition for graphics part solutions among other various parts vendors benefiting from this alongside indie video game companies.

Mobile / Tablet Gaming remains a huge and stable portion of the video game industry, much larger than the dedicated handheld games market which is mainly dominated by various 3DS models and Nintendo first party games right now.

Editor’s Note: RealGamerNewZ has moved web servers, some older posts can no longer be commented on and have been preserved without their images. Thank you for your understanding in this matter. This article was written by Jon Ireson on 20141130 and was last modified on 20141130 .

Concept Reveal Teaser Trailer for Resident Evil Revelations 2 has been debuted in 1080P High Definition for the first time today by Capcom at Sony’s Press Event in Japan. Capcom confirmed they will release the Survival Horror title on PS4, XO, PS3, 360, and PC some time in Early 2015 and it will feature a new set of playable characters to the Resident Evil Universe. RE: Revelations 2 is a sequel to Resident Evil: Revelations (review here).

Editor’s Note: RealGamerNewZ has moved web servers, some older posts can no longer be commented on and have been preserved without their images. Thank you for your understanding in this matter. This article was written by Louis Thompson on 20140901 and was last modified on 20140901 .

Upper One Games has released the following Behind the Scenes trailer showcasing the development of Never Alone, set to release during the third quarter of this year for Xbox ONE, PlayStation 4, and Windows PC. Never Alone is the story of an arctic fox as well as its owner Nuna and aims to tell the tales of Alaskan indigenous folklore through single player and co-op puzzle gameplay through 8 chapters of experience.

This game is also known as Kisima Inŋitchuŋa and will feature both the arctic fox as well as human girl as playable characters. Never Alone is being developed using the Unity engine and is an independent production with a focus on education as well as atmosphere. Take a look at the newly released Behind the Scenes clip below in which the developers speak about what it was like to make this game and what their vision was in designing and producing it from the ground up.

Editor’s Note: RealGamerNewZ has moved web servers, some older posts can no longer be commented on and have been preserved without their images. Thank you for your understanding in this matter. This article was written by Jon Ireson on 20140804 and was last modified on 20140804 .

Bound By Flame is the Action RPG for the next-gen gamer, and PlayStation 4 owners won’t want to miss out on this one. Already being compared to heavyweight titles in the genre, this Spiders developed title delivers its own flavor of swordplay to the industry and carves out more room within the niche market of hardcore dungeon difficulty video games.

We’d also like to take a moment to commend the development studio Spiders for their efforts to introduce unique tactics that can be utilized such as having bosses help you take out opponents before taking the battle down between the two of you, as well as the Bound By Flame’s great soundtrack, tense and entertaining adult language, conflict, and crews in the fantasy world setting. Dialogue and path choices made by the player branch out giving the game a bit of added depth to the experience. Beyond that, entire events in the game will be altered based on decisions to do with the storyline and the fate of the people you’ll meet throughout your journey.

in terms of the gameplay, Bound By Flame doesn’t disappoint. After a few introductory ‘kills’ and some getting used to the feel of the controls this game’s combat system truly shines. Falling somewhere comfortably in the middle between the typically polar brutal or easy games in its genre. Instead, Bound By Flame (perhaps unexpectedly) provides a polished and refined live action battle system that is rich with replay value and customizability but more importantly just feels right.

The heads-up displays featured in this game provide what feels like a much more tactical and advanced experience in contrast to other hud-less titles. Similarly, the intricate and quality precision of the battle system allows a more traditional Action RPG feel based on skills and fun factor reversing a recent trend focusing on exact button press timing and extreme artificial difficulty.

Some points were dropped due to a small amount of screen tearing during some of the story cutscenes in the beginning of the title but when you’re actually playing gameplay the frame rate and engine performance is totally solid. this can probably be fixed in a patch, and doesn’t effect gameplay at this time. The main playable character speaks, and the story is pretty decent. You’ll notice that no matter what you type in your name as, your character is referred to by the same name out loud. This is a bit weird at first, but not really a problem since the story is fleshed out. Perhaps the character naming exists just to identify multiple save files for various play-throughs at any given time? Who knows.

Improvements have been made on the core mechanics expected in the game, such as grabbing items just by one button tap which results in the character quickly kicking in a chest and instantly adding the items to inventory, crafting equipment such as traps and potions on the fly, and switching between skill-sets that cater to attacking enemies with different ways – just a few examples of how optimized features replace incumbent ‘hang-ups’ of recent titles (such as waiting for animations that repeat many times throughout the game).

Players are encouraged to select a difficulty that best suits the play-style they intend to use. For example, foraging for lots of items and facing brutal odds is reserved for a higher mode while the game can also be played with a lower degree of complexity and resistance. Collecting materials and crafting will be essential either way, but coming up with almost nothing in terms of item accumulation really forces the skill factor on battles and produces the intensity that this title’s genre has now become known for in the modern age of video games.

Graphically the game is great to look at. On the PlayStation 4 Spiders has shown that they are capable of producing good visuals. The textures and art inspired for each zone feels different and the presentation of enemies during battle gives something the eyes enjoy scanning rapidly during fast-paced gameplay. Combat in the fantasy genre doesn’t always get the best pixel counts either, so it was appreciated that Bound By Flame kept a visually appealing front-end to what results in a thoroughly enjoyable leveling system.

Introductions, tutorials, and thinks of that nature are always a chore. Bound By Flame provides something of a ‘go-there, get-this, talk to that guy’ introductory section that may drive some players away. As a rule of thumb, developers should make a point to start off Action games – with Action. However, I heed you not to hesitate in pushing passed this formality because it fails to represent the clamoring fights that await in the actual game. Moves may also appear primitive or basic at first, but new animation, battle timing, and moves are added to the game regularly as players progress and select which areas of gameplay need improving. This can potentially change an entire play-through and customize Bound By Flame for any play-style.

In Bound By Flame players take the role of a character who is literally Bound By Flame. The demonic presence of fire within the very spirit of the player threatens to escape and while trying to contain it must be utilized in battle through various magical moves such as throwing fireballs, setting weapons on fire, and using shields made of flame. As the game progresses forth, our travelling character begins to evolve and gain new abilities with more gameplay elements being fed into the experience at a steady pace keeping the feel of the game fresh and fun.

Official Combat Gameplay Trailer:

Final Verdict:

Bound By Flame is a must-have next-generation game, point blank. Perhaps with a few more tweaks and the addition of co-operative play Bound By Flame could have been a perfect Diamond Game. This Action RPG surprised us and blew away our expectations with a focus on integrating traditionally expected quality into the emerging sub-genre of brutally difficult fantasy combat titles. Spiders and Focus Home Interactive have out-done themselves and we hope to see developers re-think projects currently brewing to make games that are more like this! RealGamerNewz rates Bound By Flame a 9.4 out of 10 making it an RGN Gold Game.

Overall Score: 9.4 / 10

RGN Rating: Gold Game

Publisher: Focus Home Interactive

Developer: Spiders

Played On: Sony PlayStation 4

Available On: PS4 | PS3 | 360 | PC

Review Copy Info: A physical copy of this game was provided to RealGamerNewz in advance of release by the publisher for the purpose of this review.

Editor’s Note: RealGamerNewZ has moved web servers, some older posts can no longer be commented on and have been preserved without their images. Thank you for your understanding in this matter. This article was written by Jon Ireson on 20140509 and was last modified on 20140509 .

Editor’s Note: RealGamerNewZ has moved web servers, some older posts can no longer be commented on and have been preserved without their images. Thank you for your understanding in this matter. This article was written by Jon Ireson on 20130925 and was last modified on 20131220 .